U.S. mission in Havana to become embassy amid thaw

Associated Press

Updated 4:44 pm, Saturday, December 27, 2014

Photo: Anonymous / Associated Press

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FILE - This Jan. 7, 1961 file photo shows unidentified U.S. embassy employees rolling up a U.S. flag as the embassy transfers American affairs to the Swiss government, in Havana, Cuba. The U.S. Interests Section is poised to be transformed into a full embassy, which would include such symbolic measures such as raising the American flag on the Malecon, after the U.S. and Cuba announced on Dec. 17, 2014 they are re-establishing full diplomatic relations. (AP Photo, File) less

FILE - This Jan. 7, 1961 file photo shows unidentified U.S. embassy employees rolling up a U.S. flag as the embassy transfers American affairs to the Swiss government, in Havana, Cuba. The U.S. Interests ... more

Photo: Anonymous / Associated Press

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FILE - In this Jan. 3, 1961 file photo, Cubans crowd outside the U.S. embassy in hopes of getting visas after President Fidel Castro ordered the U.S. embassy to reduce its staff to 12 officials within 48 hours, in Havana, Cuba. The U.S. broke relations with Cuba on this day, and closed its embassy. Fifty-three-years later, on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014, the U.S. and Cuba agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations and open economic and travel ties, marking a historic shift in U.S. policy toward the communist island after a half-century of enmity dating back to the Cold War. (AP Photo, File) less

FILE - In this Jan. 3, 1961 file photo, Cubans crowd outside the U.S. embassy in hopes of getting visas after President Fidel Castro ordered the U.S. embassy to reduce its staff to 12 officials within 48 hours, ... more

HAVANA — A half-century after Washington severed relations with Cuba, the United States’ seven-story mission looms over Havana’s seaside Malecon boulevard as the largest diplomatic outpost in the country.

Cuban guards stand at close intervals on the street outside, and islanders line up by the thousands each year for a shot at a coveted visa.

The gleaming U.S. Interests Section suddenly is poised to become an even more important presence in Cuba as the two countries negotiate the first phase of their historic detente — transforming the complex into a full embassy that would reflect the Obama administration’s hopes of new influence on the communist island.

Roberta Jacobson, assistant U.S. secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, will be the highest known U.S. administration official to visit in decades when she comes next month for annual talks on migration that will now also focus on the details of re-establishing full diplomatic relations.

The discussions are expected to cover expanding staffing in the two countries’ interests sections and letting diplomats travel outside their respective capitals without having to ask permission.

Also part of the reopening of the embassy: symbolic measures such as raising the American flag on the Malecon.

“Opening an embassy is a symbolic gesture, but symbols are really important,” John Caulfield, who was Interests Section chief from 2011 to 2014, said by phone from Jacksonville, Fla., where he retired.

“This is a pretty powerful symbol by our president that we want to have a more normal relationship with Cuba despite the fact that we have the obvious differences,” he added.

Diplomats say privately that Washington hopes to boost staffing in Havana, currently at about 50 Americans and 300 Cuban workers, as more American travelers and trade delegates are expected to come here under new rules to be set by the White House softening the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.

The U.S. Interests Section has often been a flash point for conflict, and its decades of hybrid status reflect the dysfunctional relationship between the two deeply intertwined countries.

The building first opened as an embassy in 1953, the same year Fidel Castro launched an ill-fated assault on a barracks that is considered the onset of the Cuban Revolution.

Eight years later, with Castro then in power, the countries broke ties and Switzerland stepped in to safeguard both the embassy and the ambassador’s residence, a sprawling, immaculately groomed estate in Havana’s finest neighborhood.

After the break, Washington was without a presence in Cuba until 1977, when the interests sections were opened under President Jimmy Carter. The missions technically operate under the aegis of the “protecting power” Switzerland.

Cuba later built the adjacent “Anti-Imperialist Plaza,” which has hosted nationalist rallies where Castro gave long speeches railing against Washington.

Both sides gradually moved toward a remarkably civil relationship in recent years.

Once details of the new relationship are worked out, actually turning the mission into an embassy requires little more than changing a few signs and ordering a new letterhead, experts said.

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